With what success has the British government tried to deal with the Irish Troubles in the years since 1972?

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Conflict in Ireland

With what success has the British government tried to deal with the Irish Troubles in the years since 1972?

In March 1972 the British response to increasing violence in Northern Ireland was direct rule this meant that the province was run by the British prime minister and actually lasted over 25 years.

        Power Sharing

In 1974 it power sharing was proposed by William Whitelaw and a new assembly was elected to govern Northern Ireland. The main parties in the assembly were represented on a power-sharing executive this meant that nationalist and unionists share power. The aim of power sharing was to undermine the IRA’s support in the nationalist communities. It consisted of six unionist ministers, four SDLP ministers and one from the alliance party. The executive was elected in 1973 and began governing in 1974. The SDLP’s agreed to take part but were unhappy that internment was still active but they were happier with a council of Ireland as they felt it would help the republic have a say in the running of Northern Ireland. This worried most unionists and give a say in how Northern Ireland is run to the republic and is the same as letting France have a say in how an English state like Kent is run. In may 1974 the Ulster workers council declared a general strike the strike was not supported very well until loyalist paramilitaries used intimidation to force most of the population in to the strike within two weeks Northern Ireland was brought to a holt. And the executive resigned on 27th may. Power–sharing had gone and direct rule was back. Which shows this government was not effective. This made it more difficult for the following government with the Unionists as it only weakened the relationship. It helped with the Nationalists as they accepted the approach and had a strong relationship with the government. It also made it harder as they have already strike against the previous idea of the government and now feel they can do this every time.

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Margaret Thatcher along with the Irish Taoiseachs met regularly as they were concerned about the continuing IRA violence. In 1984 Mrs. Thatcher was nearly killed by an IRA bomb.

        Anglo-Irish Agreement

In 1985 the Anglo-Irish agreement was agreed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Taoiseach Garrett Fitzgerald. Their would be cross-border co-operation on security, legal and political issues they set up a civil service both sides of the border. The British Government accepted their maybe a united Ireland. The Irish government also accepted the existence of partition. This approach was well received in most of mainland ...

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